The Tailor of Sharn 4E

A Meeting With a Giant - Part 1

19

MAY/11

- From the journal of Karantor, Paladin of Dol Arrah.

Following the fight with the Gelatinous Cube, we found a hidden room which had clearly been used as a place to rest by a previous adventuring party. We decided to spend some time resting here, unaware of the time it would be outside. Tool placed himself by the door to guard the rest of us, which was a decision that would choose to pay off.

During our sleep, I was awakened by a summing or vibrating noise. Having a look through my backpack, I found the box that my sending stone was in, the box which Malazar had given me. Opening the box, and staying quiet, I could hear the voice of Ethan, as well as another familiar one. It turned out to be Adviser Kaludram. He scolded Ethan for using the sending stone as he was aware one of the ones that were paired with it had been taken by the “enemy”.

The volume of the stone was quite loud as it had woken up the other group members. Just at this time, a skittering sound could be heard against the door. Tool got ready for what it was, but instead the sound stopped. Now, instead of a skittering sound, a hissing sound could be heard, and the hinges on the door melted, and the door collapsed in. Tool dodged out of the way, only to be faced by a Rust Monster.

Taking to arms and positioning ourselves, we rushed into the fight only to find another three creatures approach. Realizing the rushed manner in which the Rust Monster had barged into the room, we assumed it was fleeing from the skeletons. This turned out to be true, when the skeletons attempted to attack the monster.

The fight went on for some time, but both the monster and the skeletons were eventually defeated, though at somewhat of a cost; Tool’s dagger component had been dissolved by the rust monster, and he had to resort to firing the re-purposed drill laser for the later part of the encounter.

Now properly awake, we decided to head onwards and continue exploring. We came across a strange wall, that seemed “off”, but we were not able to gauge exactly what. Our Artificer, Moriarty, spent a fair amount of time trying to figure out its purpose, but with no luck. Fang, our shifter, went onwards to find another door, and an entrance downwards. We followed him and was present with a new challenge.

In the next room, we saw three statues and two pillars, as well as an enormous door, which seemed incredibly shut. Tool attempted to figure out exactly how the locking mechanism work and concluded that not he, nor any man, would be able to twist the cogwheels that controlled the door and that it would not be possible to be forced.

On the two nearest statues, two bows hung – one on a statue with a snowflake, and the other on one with a flame. On the middle was a targeting circle, one that archers would use, and two arrows pointing away from it. Tool mentioned seeing two gemstones on the far door, matching the colours of the flame and the snowflake.

After a bit of thinking, we figured that the arrows would have to hit the gemstones, but in which order? We experimented for quite some shots, and thankfully the arrows only fell to the ground instead of shattering. Following the many shots, we managed to get one gemstone to light up, but then grow dim and we figured that they would have to be activated on the same time. Tool and myself lined up, took aim and fired, our arrows ricocheting and meeting midair only to hit the gemstones at the exact same time. The two stones grew extremely bright, and the door started opening…